Kid Things, Chapter Ten
Done and done. I'm kinda sad, guys.
Title: Kid Things (WIP, 10/10)
Author:
sowell
Characters: Logan/Veronica
Word Count: 1,960
Rating: R, for language
Summary: 5 years after graduation, Logan comes back to Neptune to ask Veronica for help.
Spoilers: Spoiled through 2.22
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas hasn't agreed to give them to me yet, but I think my emails are starting to wear him down...
Notes: So, I really wanted to ring this fic out with some semblance of grace and dignity, maybe a few wise, wistful words for the readers to take away with them. Sadly, on the inside I am nothing but a stupid mushy girly girl with too much Logan love for my own good. Enjoy. This was the first piece of fanfic I posted anywhere, ever, and it was an amazingly fun experience. Thank you to everyone who left a single line of feedback. You've totally made my summer.
Read it at
veronicamarsfic
One...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six...Seven...Eight...Nine
Ten
Percy jumped up and down in front of the door until Logan turned the key and opened it. He charged in ahead, yelling for some reason Logan couldn’t even fathom. In the few weeks since he’d left Neptune the kid had stopped grabbing for Logan’s hand so often, and he wanted to be carried even less. He was a freaking bundle of energy, full steam ahead, all the time. Logan couldn’t decide if he liked it better when he was scared and traumatized. At least he was silent then. But the smiles were kind of nice, too.
Suddenly Percy stopped yelling and came running back out of the apartment, slamming into Logan’s legs. “Uncle Logan,” he whimpered, and held out his arms to be picked up. Logan obliged.
“What’s wrong, Master P?” he asked, carrying him through the living room. “Did you see a - ” he stopped. Veronica was in his kitchen, casually putting away groceries.
“I think I startled him,” she said, smiling briefly. She was wearing a dress - a flowery, cottony wisp of a dress that lit up her pale skin like sun on snow. Her hair was especially shiny, like maybe she used a blow dryer and put a lot of girly products in it. Like maybe she did it for him. He slammed the brakes on that line of thinking before it got out of control. This was Veronica, and there were a million reasons she could be in his kitchen, most of which had nothing to do with him. She reached to put something away in a top cabinet, her flimsy skirt riding up almost…almost…. Logan felt himself start to sweat.
He pushed himself into motion with a little effort and set Percy down on the floor again. “Don’t you remember Veronica?” he asked his nephew. “She’s only a little scary. She likes to show up every once in a while in completely locked apartment buildings.”
“Hi,” Percy said shyly, and Veronica smiled back. “Hey there.”
“I was thinking of making lunch,” she said, “but I figured you’d be out of…well, pretty much everything.”
“We have Fruit Loops,” Logan said defensively.
“Right,” she said, and he saw a flash of uncertainty on her face. “Anyway, I convinced your doorman that I was your personal shopper, and that the milk was going to spoil.”
“And to think I moved into this building because of the security,” he said, watching her. He nudged Percy toward his bedroom. “Give me and Veronica a second, k?”
Percy made it as far as the end of the counter. Then he looked at Veronica and said, “Play with me?” Veronica opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Percy,” Logan said warningly, like he was Ward-fucking-Cleaver, and Percy waved at Veronica and toddled into his room.
“I’m impressed,” she said wryly.
“Yeah, well, it turns out Percy and I have a lot in common. What with the being abandoned and all. I’m raising him as my own personal Mini-Me.”
She looked at the ground. “I miss you.”
His heart slammed into his ribs and stuck there. She looked skittish, and he didn’t want to scare her away, but what the fuck? What the hell was he supposed to say when his mind was already four steps ahead, lifting her onto the counter and pushing that virginal little dress up around her waist?
“I missed you these last couple weeks,” she said, and she was still gazing at the smooth tiles. “And it got me thinking that maybe I missed you for the last five years and I just didn’t know it.” His heart was beating really fast now, and he didn’t have the slightest clue what to say, except: I miss you too, I love you, please don’t do this if you don’t mean it. And he was afraid laying himself bare would send her straight back out the door.
“It seems Jeff agreed with me,” she continued. “He thinks I might have missed you, too, and apparently he didn’t want to marry someone still hung up on their high school boyfriend.”
Logan froze. “So this is what, closure?” he said hoarsely. “Did you come out here to prove something to yourself?” The adrenaline shot of the last five minutes crashed around him, and he felt himself cracking slowly, buckling under the collapse.
“No,” she said, looking him in the eye for the first time. “I told him he was crazy. Then I broke up with him, got in my car, and drove down to LA.”
And just like that, all the cracks in him sealed up and disappeared. It was scary, the power she had over him. He should hate it - he’d spent years trying to hate it - but all he could do was drink in the sight of her standing in his apartment. Staring at him like he might have power over her, too.
He took a step toward her, doubly cautious now. “So what does that mean?”
“I- I don’t know. It means I’m not marrying Jeff. And I missed you. And I’m really hoping you’re not seeing someone else.”
“No. No one,” he said quickly, taking another step toward her. God, he could smell her now, sweet and soft and shining. Her eyes looked terrified, but he thought that maybe he was close enough to grab her this time if she ran.
“Well, ok,” she said. “Good. I’m staying here for a few days, so…good.”
They stared at each other for an endless moment, and he held his breath. He wasn’t going to open his mouth, because it was going to be the wrong thing, whatever he said. He’d known her since he was twelve years old, and the only thing he’d ever really figured out about her was how to piss her off.
She finally looked away, and said, “Ok,” one more time. She turned to go, and he desperately did not want her walking out of his apartment, because no matter what she said, she might jump in her car and drive back up to Neptune, and then this would all be over again.
He put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped. He was not going to say anything, and he wasn’t going to beg or plead or do anything to scare her, and…yes, yes he was.
“Don’t leave,” he said, raw. “We can sit down and talk about this, or not, just, please don’t walk out right now.”
She sighed and turned around. “I don’t know, Logan. I’m not even sure - ”
He put a hand on her cheek and kissed her, and without hesitation she slid her hands around his neck and kissed him back, and Logan almost stumbled at the heady feeling of it.
“Please,” he whispered when she broke away, burying his face in her neck. “Please, don’t leave me again. I know I fucked up. I’m doing better. I’m going to do better. I just- God, just let me try again.”
He felt her shivering against him, felt her hands clutching tight at his sides. “Ok,” she murmured into his chest, and his whole body clenched in response. He really did heft her up and set her on the counter then, but she laughed and nuzzled against his hair, small hands bracketing his face.
“I’m not having sex where your three-year-old can wander in any second. At least take me to the bedroom, Casanova.”
He didn’t have to be asked twice.
*****
“Do you want me to move back to Neptune?” he asked, trailing his mouth down between her breasts. “Because I will.”
She was running her hands over his back in a way that sent prickles all up and down his spine, despite the fact that they’d already had sex twice in the last hour. He never thought he’d be here again, with Veronica wrapped around him again, and he wondered if maybe this was it: this was how fate was trying to kill him, because he’d wake up tomorrow and she’d be gone, or he’d wake up right now and this whole afternoon would have been a dream.
Percy banged on the locked door for the third time. “Uncle Logan! Bored!”
“Watch more TV,” Logan shouted, feeling Veronica shake with laughter under him.
“You’re going to have to feed him eventually,” she said, amused.
He bit her shoulder lightly and he felt her hips shift. “Nah. We have a system. I put a sock on the door if I’m in here with a lady friend.”
“Great,” she said sardonically, and pushed him away gently.
“Ok, too soon to joke about lady friends,” Logan muttered, falling to his side.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just - ” she sat up and took his hand, and butterflies started to ricochet off his stomach lining. She had her Serious Discussion face on, and he couldn’t remember a Serious Discussion that had ever ended well for him.
She traced patterns over the back of his fingers. “I was thinking maybe Percy would be better off here. Neptune isn’t really…the healthiest environment, and also…maybe I’ve had enough of Neptune.” She looked at him expectantly.
“You want to move to LA?” he asked dumbly. “You want to move in with me?”
“Well, not at first,” she said quickly. “But it’s not too far from my dad. I could get a job here and we could see how things go…”
“Things are going to go just fine,” he said, pulling her on top of him. She stretched languidly against him, and he thought she might be trying to kill him, too, because he was getting hard again, and he was already exhausted.
“Jesus,” she said. She reached out and actually knocked on the wood of his bedside table. “Don’t say that. It makes me all jumpy.”
“Hear me out,” he said. “If you move in right away, we could do this - ” he stretched up and kissed her, “all the time. Plus, do you know how expensive it is to keep two cars in LA?”
“Now he’s worried about money,” she said fondly. “Does that mean you’re giving up your car?”
“Or you could give up yours,” he pointed out.
“Nope.”
“Ah.” He smiled knowingly. “I see you’ve gotten attached to my little gift.”
She flicked a thumb over his nipple. “I traded it in for a hybrid and bought some new camera equipment. Really, sometimes it’s like you don’t know me at all.”
He slid a leg up between hers and she inhaled sharply. “I want you to move in,” he said seriously. “But not until you’re ready. Although…feel free to put away my groceries any time. Especially if you’re wearing another see-through dress.”
She had the grace to blush. “So you did wear that little number for my benefit,” he exclaimed. “I knew it.”
“I thought it might soften you up,” she admitted, and laid her head down on his chest. He could feel her soft breath coming in and out against his skin, and he was pretty sure this was the best it was ever going to be for him.
And then she went and proved him wrong.
“You know that I love you, right?” she asked softly, and his stomach turned over. “I know I don’t say it,” she continued, “but…I want you to know.” Logan started to tremble. He tried to make his body stay still, but he was just shaking with the most terrifying exhilaration he’d ever felt.
She sensed it, of course. She lifted her head, and there must have been something in his eyes, because she put a concerned palm against his cheek. “I do. I did back then, too. I want you to at least know that.”
“I do now,” he managed, and kissed her again.
THE END
Told you. Mushy girly girl.
And...awards. Yay.
